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It has a nickname. Death of Empires. The Russian's tried twice. The British had a hell of a time there, the Persians had a hell of a time. Ottomans tried and didn't do so hot, several central Asian kingdoms of old tried. The only ones who held Afghanistan for any length of time were the Mongolians, and that was because they basically depopulated the place.

I'd almost call Afghanistan "The edge of the world", even though it's kinda in the center. It's certainly the edge from a human perspective, likewise the Caucasus. 2 very "wild" areas.

Considering the colonial/imperial dealing in that region...I get the feeling the Europeans, and by extention the American, would be quite happy if central africa vanished overnight like a bad dream. They had nothing but problems there for at least the last 150 years, and nothing really gained from any of it. With things like that in the collective memory, it stands to reason that the Western World will mostly not care what happens in Central Africa...or at least not care enough to do anything about it for long.

Northern Africa on the other hand has been part of western civilization (one way or another) for thousands of years...so they have intrest there.

As long as conflicts in sub Saharan Africa do not get a lot of media coverage, those places effectively do not exist for most of the world. Local problems and events that affect viewers directly tend to get more attention.

Still, even in the unlikely event of a massive UN sanctioned intervention in African warzones, what can modern militaries do? They are not police forces and it's hard to distinguish between civilians and combatants. Not to mention there are multiple factions at any given time. Pacifying and policing regions would take loads of troops and high casualty rates, if it even can be done at all. That's a recipe for political suicide for any government supporting those actions.

They only proven method is scorched earth tactics, and that is a bit self defeating, if the aim is to help the population. Emergency aid is pretty much the only thing that can be done from the outside at the moment.

It's happening even in my area. Some shops around the central part of town already burned down, although the media's pretty poor at telling what's really happening. Some kids are actually using these riots as an excuse to loot or cause needless disturbances. For instance, right outside where I live, there's an antique radio and video store, and a bunch of people tried breaking in, albeit unsuccessfully. I swear, the idiocy of these people is astounding.

"China's CNOOC Ltd (0883.HK: Quote) and Ghana National Petroleum Corp
(GNPC) have submitted a $5 billion bid for Kosmos Energy LLC's assets in the
West African country, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters
on Friday.

China has become a major investor in African energy and mineral resources,
which it needs to feed its booming economy."

That's an American company selling its 30% share of a few oil platforms off the coast of Ghana. The majority of the platform is still controlled by its other American and British partner corporations, and they sold it after rejecting a 4 billion USD bid from Exxon. Really, I would be more worried about the AAA farms the EC helped establish in Africa, grabbing productive farmland for their multinationals. Oil lines rich people's pockets, but food is something everyone needs. Not to mention the private water utilities trying to grab share in African countries.

Best we can do in Africa is actually just to not stick our noses into their affairs , and trade with them on a fair and equal basis.

It's not our job to police the continent, at most I'd only stop the most egregious acts (EG the Rwandan Genocide), but if a country is set on a course of civil war there's little direct we can do, like the gbagbo/ouattara feud in Cote D'Ivoire. In such a conflict there isn't really any side we can side with, and the only thing that's likely to happen is that we unite everyone against us.

If they want to plunge their own country into civil war it's their problem...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Bank of America Corp. and Citibank Inc. were a pair of cement shoes on the financial sector Monday as shares of the banks shed up to 20% with investors wary of the ripple effects of Standard & Poor’s downgrade of U.S. government debt.

Someone should have put the word "PWNED" in Bernanke's face - a failed institution is a failed institution, no matter how big it is. How did he even get the idea to bail them out in the first place?

Oh right. "Monetary Policy", "Keynesian Economics". He wrote that in his textbook with Robert Frank after all.

When three puppygirls named after pastries are on top of each other, it is called Eclair a'la menthe et Biscotti aux fraises avec beaucoup de Ricotta sur le dessus.
Most of all, you have to be disciplined and you have to save, even if you hate our current financial system. Because if you don't save, then you're guaranteed to end up with nothing.

It's happening even in my area. Some shops around the central part of town already burned down, although the media's pretty poor at telling what's really happening. Some kids are actually using these riots as an excuse to loot or cause needless disturbances. For instance, right outside where I live, there's an antique radio and video store, and a bunch of people tried breaking in, albeit unsuccessfully. I swear, the idiocy of these people is astounding.

Well to be fair that's what I got out of Sky News actually. Not from their on-studio anchors and commentators, those would make you believe that these are just a hand full of troublemakers, but from the reporters they have on the field whom I must say have shown quite some guts in these last few hours.

It's happening even in my area. Some shops around the central part of town already burned down, although the media's pretty poor at telling what's really happening. Some kids are actually using these riots as an excuse to loot or cause needless disturbances. For instance, right outside where I live, there's an antique radio and video store, and a bunch of people tried breaking in, albeit unsuccessfully. I swear, the idiocy of these people is astounding.

Is it primarily minority youths or is it white and black? I ask because while I know that Britain has a fair population of minorities, I was under the impression that poverty over there is not as strictly cut across racial lines as it is (or is percieved to be) here in the US.

Is it primarily minority youths or is it white and black? I ask because while I know that Britain has a fair population of minorities, I was under the impression that poverty over there is not as strictly cut across racial lines as it is (or is percieved to be) here in the US.

I don't know much about the riots, I can confirm that in Britain and Ireland most poor youths are white, but I'd say certain minorities are over-represented.

It does vary heavily by location though, so in london, for instance, a lot more of the urban poor are non-white, and there are far more ethnic gangs. Not so much in other cities though.

I think there's a racial element to it, but I'd say it's mainly about a certain class of youth being disenchanted and alienated from society. It's different from previous protests in Britain (EG over university tuition) as these riots are pretty much entirely working class.